Luke Vargas

U.S.

stock futures began sliding during Trump's speech and remained down more than a percent heading into today's trading session.

Asian equities fell today, led by a more than 4% drop in South Korea's KOSPI index after new data showed that surging energy prices triggered a jump in consumer inflation.

And oil prices have climbed more than 5% in early European trading, with analysts at ING saying that Trump's threat to strike Iran extremely hard in the coming weeks had injected fresh uncertainty into energy markets.

While the president didn't mention NATO by name during his address last night, he told British media yesterday that he could potentially withdraw the US from the alliance.

Trump has criticized members for their lack of support for the war in Iran.

But South Europe Bureau Chief Marcus Walker says that withdrawing or rewriting the 1949 treaty that created the military alliance would be hard.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has lifted sanctions against Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez, clearing the way for both countries to expand oil production and American foreign investment.

While Rodriguez praised the shift as a significant step, other former Maduro officials remain under U.S.

sanctions and face criminal drug trafficking charges.

And China is building a new missile base in the South China Sea, resuming an island-building campaign after a nearly decade-long break.

Reporter Mike Cherney says the construction on Antelope Reef in the disputed Paracel Islands is occurring far closer to the Chinese mainland than past projects in the Spratly Islands, which are closer to the Philippines, but that that comes with its own advantages.

Coming up, Eli Lilly's weight loss pill wins regulatory approval.

And we'll look at the profession that's overtaken factory and office work as the new ticket to the middle class.

Those stories and more after the break.

Well, the weight loss drug battle is entering a new round after Eli Lilly yesterday won U.S.

regulatory approval for its once-daily GLP-1 pill, Foundeo.

It will be going up against the pill version of Novo Nordisk's Wegovi, which went on sale at the start of the year in what turned out to be one of the best drug launches in history.

And while Foundeo showed more modest weight loss results in trials compared to the Wegovy pill, Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC that he thinks people will appreciate that it can be taken right after waking up and on an empty stomach.

Lilly has won a weight loss fight before, with its Zepbound and Manjaro injections now outselling the GLP-1 drugs that Novo Nordisk pioneered.